Merch Stops

"Everything will always be all right...when we go shopping"

Happy Boxing Day everyone!

As an American, I have no clue what on earth Boxing Day is supposed to represent. However, as a dumb kid, I used to associate it with people refunding the terrible gifts they got for Christmas, so in that "spirit", I'm going to talk about some of the various team stores I went to this year!¹

I didn't get to see any game action at any of these places (with one exception), but I did visit the physical team stores (or, in two cases, bought stuff online). I’d been to most of these places in the past, but I still haven’t seen games at a few of them (namely a couple of the Minor League stadiums). I will note that you may very well see some of these teams/places again on this blog soon enough, but I'll get more into that later...

CAPE COD BASEBALL LEAGUE

Interspersed between the games in Nashua, Wareham, and Brockton, I made stops at a few Cape Cod Baseball League fields (mainly due to the free admission and the fact that most of these specific teams don't sell stuff online). For more on the Cape Cod Baseball League, I wrote about it here, and I personally recommend you check it out (as it partially explains how I was able to make these trips and why I felt like doing them).

STONY BROOK FIELD (BREWSTER, MA) - BREWSTER WHITECAPS

The Brewster Whitecaps are tied with the Bourne Braves as the Cape’s “newest” team (formed in 1988);they've won three Cape League titles, and their most notable alumnus, as much as I hate to admit it, has to be the most famous Cape Leaguer in MLB today: Aaron Judge.

Their field - Stony Brook Field - is attached to an elementary school; of the fields I visited during this trip, Brewster is the only one that does not have lights (I didn’t get to the other two). For the longest while, merch was sold from a portable trailer, but in 2023, they built a physical building from which they now sell merch. They didn’t have any hats I was particularly interested in this time (I was interested in an all navy one but it wasn’t available), but the weird thing about Brewster was that they were the only Cape League team I didn’t have a shirt/sweater/hoodie for. I ended up changing that by getting a fleece, as well as a book about the team’s 2024 season - mainly because the author was visiting (he also signed the book, which was very nice).

I should also note that Brewster is the only team on the Cape I visited that sells their own logo baseball; I didn't get one since I have it already and wasn't sticking around, but most teams (not sure if all however) sell mini bats (though I got most of those in 2021).

GUV FULLER FIELD (FALMOUTH, MA) - FALMOUTH COMMODORES

The main thing you need to know about the Falmouth Commodores is that they have the Cape League’s longest title drought, with their last title coming all the way back in 1980 (45 years and counting - soon to be older than the players’ parents).

Guv Fuller Field is unique amongst Cape League stadiums in two ways: the entrances are all in the outfield, and merch is sold INSIDE the press box (as opposed to being a stand). The main reason I wanted to come here: a new white hat introduced this year (their previous hats have been all black). Sadly, it was seemingly out of stock the day I visited; I forgot to ask if they had any more, but given that they were also out of adult sized Fourth of July hats, it’s unlikely that I would’ve gotten a positive answer.

I also briefly thought about coming here the day after my first visit, but decided against it - after all, I’ve actually seen Falmouth NOT have player hats more often than I’ve seen them have them (this also killed a potential visit in December, as it's rather far from most of "mainland Massachusetts"). This is also the one exception to the "didn't see game action" rule, as the game had started after I arrived (I was only here for like 20 minutes though, so it wasn't really worth a "full game report").

DORAN PARK (BOURNE, MA) - BOURNE BRAVES

I mentioned that the Bourne Braves were tied with Brewster for being the “newest” team in the Cape League. However, they’ve also currently the Cape League's “dynasty”: since the league came back after cancelling the 2020 season due to COVID, they’ve made the league's championship series each and every year (winning titles in 2022, 2023, and 2025).

Their stadium - Doran Park - sits on the campus of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School (which REALLY helps with parking), and has undergone quite a bit of change over the past few years. This has mainly taken shape in the construction of terraces around the infield which, it should be noted, are essentially their replacement for bleachers (i.e. there are NO bleachers at Doran Park nowadays unless you want to sit in the way too far football field seats). However, this year’s biggest change: the merch store!

Previously, merch was sold inside the press box (similar to Falmouth), but in 2025, the team moved their merch store to a new location: a converted shipping container near the “entrance” to the actual field (though there may be indications that the old merch store is getting renovated). I got a new hat (‘cause I like what the manufacturer has done in the past) and a baseball to put in a display case.

Truthfully, I was thinking about stopping here on the 3rd before heading to Chatham, but didn’t because Cape League Parking Situations (and I do think that was the right call). I’ve also seen them sell some stuff online, but that stuff is usually limited to championship items (again, three titles since 2020).

COTUIT KETTLEERS

If there’s two things you should know about the Kettleers (or the Ketts as they’re commonly known), it’s the fact that they’ve won the most Cape League championships (19 as of 2025), and that they play at one of the more well known fields on Cape Cod: Lowell Park (which has nothing to do with Lowell, MA).

Known for its iconic scenery and entrance plaza, this is honestly one of the cooler parks in the league (and also has the league’s second video board after Wareham). Unfortunately, parking here is probably the most difficult experience among the Cape League fields for several reasons (plus the lack of lights here means games start earlier, so you have to be there EARLY). In fact, this one's different as it's one of the two teams that I didn't physically visit!

Thankfully, Cotuit is one of the few Cape League teams that sells merch online (which has included old jerseys in the past), and they had player hats available before my July 4th trip (this usually doesn’t happen until later in the season), so I decided to sidestep the headaches and just ordered their new hat online (which is part of why I was willing to skip this visit). That ended up being a smart decision, as I checked a few weeks later and saw that the size I got was out of stock (and there's a possibility they don't bring it back next year).

MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

TD BANK BALLPARK (BRIDGEWATER, NJ) - SOMERSET PATRIOTS

This is the stadium that is closest to where I live - which makes it all the more unfortunate (IMO) that the Somerset Patriots went from Independent League darling to New York Yankees Double-A affiliate during the Great MiLB Shuffle of 2020².

I did think about going to SEVERAL games here, but never ended up doing so. However, I’ve been here quite a few times in the past for merch (as well as a few games WAY back in the day), and this year, two visits to the team store ended with me getting two MiLB game balls (one for display, the other for messing around with) and a couple of hats, including one for their award winning alternate identity: the Jersey Diners (it’s honestly really good). In fact, I was planning on going to a Jersey Diners jersey giveaway game, but other plans + Jazz Chisholm Jr. forced me to miss it...

POLAR PARK (WORCESTER, MA) - WORCESTER RED SOX/2025 FUTURES LEAGUE ALL STAR GAME

Outside of the massive 2020 MiLB realignment, one of the most controversial moves in recent Minor League history has to be that of the Pawtucket Red Sox moving 40 miles north to Worcester, MA. I could get into the weeds of the move, but I’m trying to keep these sections brief (maybe if I return for a game...).

However, It’s not just affiliated baseball that was affected by the move: there is a local Futures League team that was doing REALLY WELL before the WooSox moved in, and hasn’t really recovered from the hit they took from the WooSox. However, the two teams entered a “strategic partnership” in 2024 (I think), and that partnership included the stadium hosting this summer’s Futures League All Star Game - an event I considered attending before ultimately deciding against it (I ended up going to Reading that day). I will say, however, that I have been to a game here back in 2022³; I also went on a tour of the park with a high school reunion from before I was born (don’t ask).

I’ve been making annual visits to the team store every year since they opened, and this year, I ended up getting some hats (as I couldn’t find if they still print a media guide and/or yearbook like the previous years I’ve visited).

DELTA DENTAL STADIUM (MANCHESTER, NH) - NEW HAMPSHIRE FISHER CATS

The Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays (which, unfortunately, dampens interest in the team), the Fisher Cats have been playing at (Northeast) Delta Dental Stadium since 2005.

For the longest time, the team had literally ZERO flex fits (or at least the ones I’d consider buying). Heck, even though they had some flex fit hats when I visited the team store here in 2025, the selection was still rather limited...though I did find one for one of my favorite MiLB alt identities: the Manchester Chicken Tenders. They’re also one of the few teams I’ve seen sell old jerseys, so I got one of those (and also have one I got a few years ago that features a large hole unfortunately).

I contemplated coming to a game here as I was considering an event in Boston the day after, but ended up nixing both events as I wanted to reduce travel (and costs).

DUNKIN PARK (HARTFORD, CT) - HARTFORD YARD GOATS

Double-A baseball has been around in Central Connecticut since 1973. Originally based in Bristol, CT (down the road from ESPN), the team moved to New Britain in 1983, and then to their current home in downtown Hartford in 2016: Dunkin’ (Donuts) Park.

This is one of the stadiums where I’ve been to the team store several times, but never been able to catch a game. They did celebrate their ten-year anniversary of being in Hartford this year, however, and that came with a special patch for their hats, which I ended up getting on a drive home from Massachusetts (though I’m REALLY not a fan of how low quality said patch is).

ABERDEEN IRONBIRDS

The Aberdeen IronBirds were very much Cal Ripken Jr.'s “baby” as he bought the team and moved them from Utica, NY to his hometown of Aberdeen, MD after he retired from MLB (it is called “Ripken Stadium” for a reason after all). However, he sold a majority stake to another group in 2024, and it was announced back in August that they'd be "moving" from the South Atlantic League (where they were the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles) to the MLB Draft League, as another team owned by the same group is set to take Aberdeen's spot in the SAL.

I had SOME thoughts about coming here, but in the end figured it was too far to be worth it. However, given the team’s impending league change, I decided to order hats from them (thus making it the second team store I didn't physically go to). It also turns out that this was a very smart move for a few other reasons:

1. The whole thing ended up being 50% off the prices listed on their site. I thought about getting a jersey once I realized this, but they're sublimated and I'm not a fan of that, so I didn't.
2. When the hats arrived at my door, I noticed that the price stickers had different prices than what I saw online. For the most part, it was only a few cents lower online, but hey - every cent matters!

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

CITIZENS BANK PARK (PHILADELPHIA, PA) - PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Given the historic haplessness of places like Chicago (both the North and South sides) and Cleveland, it’s easy to forget that the Phillies were the last of the original 16 MLB franchises to win their first World Series title back in 1980 (a 77 year wait given that the first World Series was in 1903). Despite the team having made multiple World Series appearances since then, they’ve only won one other championship in 2008 - tying them with the Guardians plus FOUR of MLB’s expansion franchises; two of whom are division rivals (the Marlins and Mets), and two of whom have beaten the Phillies in the World Series (the Blue Jays in 1993 and the Astros in 2022). Of course, their haplessness isn’t just related to their relatively awful World Series record - after all, they were the first MLB team to reach 10,000 losses back in 2007, and are MULTIPLE FULL SEASONS ahead of second place Atlanta in the loss column.

For more on my visit to this ballpark/team store, check it out here, but long story short: I got some 2026 All Star Game stuff since they're hosting it next year. I realize that this is a bit of a "cop-out", but I really like what I wrote for the Phillies' history (also the Blue Jays almost made this section WORSE).

NEW YORK METS

The New York Mets are one of baseball’s most...curious franchises. They’ve had some notably GOOD things happen, such as being the first expansion team to win a World Series (the ‘69 “Miracle Mets”), and then being the first expansion team to win a second World Series in 1986 because of John McNamara (you’re welcome). On the other hand, they set the modern era record for futility in their first year when they went 40-120 in 1962 (and then passed by the 2024 Chicago White Sox losing 121 games), famously collapsed at the end of both the 2007 and 2008 seasons (with the Phillies the beneficiaries of both collapses), have had some other memorably WILD losses (like an infamous 2019 implosion against the Washington Nationals), were owned by someone implicated in the Bernie Madoff scheme, and also...Bobby Bonilla Day (which is actually connected to the Madoff saga).

On some level, the Mets SHOULDN'T be in this section, as I didn’t get to see the stadium/official team store itself (a game here was never really on my radar, though I've been to at least two Mets games at Citi Field). However, they did have a pop-up in New York City’s Union Square during the spring of 2025, which I visited the day I saw New York City Football Club. I didn’t see authentic jerseys there (which, for some reason, I only see in official team stores), but I did end up getting a City Connect hat - which, thankfully, was NOT overpriced (technically).

INDOOR ARENAS

BARCLAYS CENTER (BROOKLYN, NY) - NEW YORK LIBERTY AND BROOKLYN NETS

Barclays Center is the home of two basketball teams in two different leagues (the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA and the New York Liberty of the WNBA)⁴. When I went (prior to a Brooklyn Cyclones game), the store was primarily focused on the Liberty, so I'll focus on them first; they're one of the founding members of the WNBA, but didn't win their first championship until 2024 (though they won the WNBA's version of the NBA Cup in 2023). As for the Nets, I have only one thing to say:

Thank you for thinking declining superstars were what you needed to beat the Heatles.

Anyway, I felt that there wasn't anything interesting in the store - they had a bunch of jerseys, but they were either sublimated or featured iron-on letters and numbers. Of course, their selection may be different during games, but by the time I thought about it the season was almost over (plus Liberty tickets are not easy to get with how the team is doing nowadays).

TD GARDEN (BOSTON, MA) - BOSTON BRUINS AND BOSTON CELTICS

TD Garden is one of eleven arenas in North America that hosts both the NBA (Boston Celtics) and NHL (Boston Bruins)⁵. I won't get too deep into either team since they're VERY old (the Celtics being a founding member of the NBA and the Bruins being part of the NHL's so-called "Original Six"), but both have...decently winning pedigrees (one WAY MORE SO than the other).

I didn't see anything inside the Garden (at least THIS year), but its official ProShop is located OUTSIDE the arena's "secure area" in the lobby of North Station - a major commuter hub underneath the arena. While I've gotten a TON of things from here in the past, this year saw me getting a special jersey designed to commemorate 100 years of Bruins hockey (and as a side note, I've found that the ProShop is typically more Bruins focused when nothing's going on as they're the ones who own the arena).

THRIFTVENTURES

Finally, I'd like to mention some of my "vintage" jersey finds. I mentioned it on my "main" blog that doesn't get updated nearly as frequently as this one does, but I like going to thrift and vintage stores/markets to hunt for jerseys. Yes, there's usually not much that I'd be interested in (and/or low quality fake jerseys), but sometimes, I do find legitimate gems.

Some highlights include:

• Two separate Baltimore Orioles road jerseys - including one with a sticker that indicates that it was team issued
• A White Sox jersey from 1995 - signed by the player who wore it (as in it has a team issued tag)
• A purple Los Angeles Kings jersey from the early 2000s (which I got at an INSANE markdown)
• An old Phoenix Coyotes jersey from the 90s
• A couple of international hockey jerseys
• a jersey from the Indian Premier League - one of the top domestic cricket leagues in the world (which I got for less than four bucks)
• A jersey from the original XFL - I HIGHLY recommend reading the linked Wikipedia article to learn about one of the biggest disasters in modern sports history